San Diego Padres reliever Ron Marinaccio was ejected in the ninth inning against the Baltimore Orioles. The Padres were already up by 9-3 at that point, when Marinaccio threw an inside pitch that struck Gunnar Henderson.
The umpire’s crew met and decided to eject the Padres reliever. Padres manager Craig Stammen was not happy with the ejection call. He had a long conversation with second-base umpire Chris Conroy before also getting ejected.
In the aftermath of the 9-3 game, the question was whether Marinaccio’s inside pitch was intentional. There was nothing from the game to suggest that the right-hander had any reason to plunk Henderson, though. He arrived in the ninth inning and faced Henderson for the first time in the ninth inning. However, since Padres’ Xander Bogaerts was hit earlier, so maybe the clubhouse was seeking revenge.
Meanwhile, fans shared their thoughts on X, with many deeming that the inside pitch was unnecessary.
“What a disgusting display from the Padres here. There is no place in baseball for this hooliganism,” one fan wrote.
“Now charge the mound and fuck him up with a bat. That was 100% intentional,” another wrote.
“lol the other reliever tried this too. As if Gibson was intending to hit their guy!” one fan commented.
“Anyone that played baseball knows this was retaliation,” another commented.
“Marinaccio is a coward,” one fan commented.
“Obviously on purpose,” another added.
“Would’ve been dope if Gunnar charged the mound,” one fan reacted.
Gunnar Henderson Reacts To Padres Going After Him Again
Orioles slugger Gunnar Henderson shared his thoughts on the Padres trying to avenge Xander Bogaerts getting hit by a pitch in the fifth inning. The Padres slugger left the game with a spasm in the neck after he was struck by the Orioles’ rookie Trey Gibson on his final pitch.
According to Henderson, the hit by pitch in the ninth inning was unnecessary as the Padres already tried going after him in his previous at-bats.
“They had their two opportunities in my previous at-bat and missed, so I thought that should have been the end of it,” Henderson said. “We hit somebody of theirs, and obviously weren’t trying to, but it is what it is. You had your opportunity to get it back, and they did and missed. So that should have been it.”
Interestingly, both Ron Marinaccio and Craig Stammen maintained that the hit by pitch in the ninth inning against Henderson was not intentional.
“He’s a great hitter. You’ve got to make hitters like that uncomfortable at times, and I pulled a fastball a little bit too much there,” Marinaccio said. “I could understand the visual, a couple guys pitching inside earlier, but there were no warnings.”
“We need to pitch [Henderson] inside. If he gets extended, he’s going to do what he did yesterday,” Stammen wrote. “That’s part of pitching, is to be able to pitch inside. Pitch between the plate and the body, and it hit him. I don’t know why they tossed [Marinaccio]. I guess maybe because Bogaerts got hit. But it’s frustrating that they would decide that quick.”
Anyhow, Henderson handled the situation calmly on the mound, which could have escalated badly for both teams, who are set to play the rubber game of the three-game series on Sunday afternoon.
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